Heres todays race report: Bates Opts for Points Over Risk in Townsville Carrera Cup Opener Carrera Cup racer Tony Bates has prioritised earning points at the fourth round of the championship, the Townsville 500 event. Bates finished today’s opening race at the Reid Park circuit in 11th overall and third in Elite class after qualifying second in class (12th outright). After making to a blistering start, Bates gained two positions in the run to turn one and was the leading Elite competitor but lost out when the inside line banked up due to an incident further ahead and his competitors risked the outside line. Bates settled into a rhythm for the remainder of the 17-lap race and set about chasing down Roger Lago and Steven Grove but took a conservative approach when his #24 Carrera Cup car developed handling issues. The Alternative Fright Services/All Star Equipment Sales driver admitted understeer hampered his progress. “It seems to be generating a fair bit of understeer on the fast sweepers and it’s a bit hairy for me, so I’m having to be on and off the throttle when I should just be accelerating,” Bates said. “I’m coming pretty close to the walls and backing off. If I was at full throttle, which is where I should be, I’d be scraping the wall. “We need to find out why the car is understeering – whether it’s the driver or if there’s an issue with the set-up.” Eager to put the horrid Phillip Island round behind him, Bates knows the importance of finishing all three races this weekend in order to bank some crucial points. “I think it will be last man standing at the end of the year. We’ve obviously got to build some points, maximise this weekend and then look at winning races from here on in.” Bates feels some tweaks overnight will give him confidence in tomorrow’s two races to move further up the field and be in a prime position for an overall podium result. “We made some improvements this morning in qualifying but we were just bit down in confidence in the car for today’s race. We’re trying to find the right mix at the moment,” Bates said. “Confidence is everything around here. It’s absolutely vital that you’re confident in the car because you approach the walls at such a high speed. “We’ll have a look at the data tonight to see where we’re losing time and give it another good go tomorrow,” he added. A further two 17-lap races tomorrow make up the Townsville 500 round of the Porsche Carrera Cup. Bates will start race two from position 11 tomorrow at 8:50AM AEST. Coverage of the final race can be seen on 7mate at 12:45PM AEST.
Posted on: Sat, 05 Jul 2014 08:19:19 +0000
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